A Little Story Called Life
by Drizzle117
Summary: So she was dating Cuddles. And he loved her. What's a mongoose to do?


**A Little Story Called Life**

_By Drizzle117_

Sunil liked to read. Not a lot of animals knew that about him; it was a portion of his personality he liked to keep hidden away with all of his secret hobbies and desires. Sure, it wasn't something he _had_ to hide, but it was just another chance for those who thought they were better than everyone else to poke some fun at him.

He didn't read an awful lot – there weren't lots of chances for a mongoose to get his paws on a book. Some he picked up from his owners' room when they were out and about; some he grabbed off of Blythe's bookshelf, desperately hoping she wouldn't notice until he had absorbed some of the tiny inked words on the (mostly) clean white pages.

While reading, he learned of many characters, of many adventures, stories and excitement. Comedies and sorrows, alternate universes and parallel universes, multiverses and so many types of universes he couldn't even keep count.

But there was one key element nearly every story contained, one that really puzzled him.

This concept, of course, was romance.

Stories usually started with the same sort of plot. A character likes another character, but isn't sure if they like them back. Many trials and many emotions would follow, resulting on an adventure, be it through a magical forest or a regular school. The characters would realize their overwhelming emotions for each other and fall in love. That's it. End of story.

So, of course, when Sunil experienced his first little bout of infatuation, he expected it to turn out the same, because if every book followed the same storyline, shouldn't real life as well?

She made him smile, even if more times she made him scream with terror and scramble up the nearest tall object. She made him happy, even if more times she made him a little upset and insecure. She made him laugh, even if more times she made him cry.

He had always viewed her as perfect. _Perfect_. She was his perfect Pepper, who would one day fall madly in love with him. They would live happily ever after, raising skunk-mongoose babies and living out their days in the Littlest Pet Shop alongside their approving friends.

That was what the books said would happen, after all.

How many times had he fantasized stroking his paws along her beautiful silky grey fur? Staring into those rose colored eyes? Feeling his heartbeat, quick and rapid, against hers, strong and steady? Surely too many times to count.

But life was so much different outside the stories.

He wasn't ready for this.

They looked so happy together, sitting in the tire swing, laughing as Minka hung from above and slowly swung them back and forth. He had his front leg casually wrapped around her shoulders, and her smile was bigger than Sunil had ever seen it before. Certainly bigger than when she was around _him_.

What exactly was he supposed to do? Was there some sort of a valiant battle he had to fight with Captain Cuddles to win Pepper's love?

…more likely she would smack him in the face for even trying.

And it wasn't like he was _going_ to try. He couldn't do that! Impossible! He would end up running away like the coward he was!

Sunil paced in a circle, replaying the words he had read over and over in books in his mind, the words he had scripted and hoped to say but had never managed to stutter. _I really like you…not like a friend. I just…I…I love you!_

In the book, the object of admiration always smiled and said _I love you too_.

No such luck.

Books and real life were nowhere near the same.

Pepper suddenly burst out snickering and placed her head on Cuddles' shoulder. He nuzzled behind her ear, making her snicker even louder. "S-Stop that!" Her little legs kicked wildly as she laughed and laughed and laughed. A real laugh, not prompted by a joke that only she could understand.

What would he have said next, if that confession had ever managed to come out? _So…do you wanna go to the park? Maybe take a walk?_

Now he would never say that. He couldn't intrude on their private life. He couldn't, he couldn't, _he couldn't_.

But then…what _could_ he do?

Curl up in a ball and fester away, eaten apart by his emotions for the rest of his life? Waste the rest of his days wishing he had said something that he never could have done? Drown in sorrow, like a never ending lake that his eternal tears would only add to?

That would waste everything; everything for a skunk who he didn't even know if he truly loved.

It wasn't worth it. She wasn't worth it.

Because life wasn't like the books.

And in life, Sunil was rapidly discovering in the most unwilling way possible, sometimes you just had to move on.

Slowly he got to his paws, trying oh-so-hard not to shuffle them as he slowly headed across the pet shop, amber eyes focused, quite nervously, on the happy couple. Suddenly it felt like his chest had become very heavy, and it was getting a little hard to breathe. Stopping almost directly under the tire, he opened his mouth and forced his throat to work.

"Pepper? Captain?"

They peered down at him, happy smiles on both of their faces. Of course they didn't know what he was going through. Why would they?

"Yeah, Sunil?" Pepper had her tail wrapped around the Captain's back, and he was relaxing on it like a sort of plush grey couch. It was something Sunil had wished he could do ever since he and the skunk had met.

Surprisingly, he wasn't overly upset about it.

The thick wave of emerald jealousy didn't rush into his body like it had previously, his fur becoming sticky with the foul emotion. But all of a sudden, the wave became a trickle…

…and it didn't feel bad.

"I just wanted to tell you…" Sunil exhaled. "…that I'm happy for you two."

They blinked and looked at each other, and smiled, Pepper's cheeks turning rosy. "Aw, thanks. It means a lot to know that you care. If I was down there I would, like, noogie you or something, but I'm not, so…" She beamed at him. "Thanks."

Sunil smiled, and it was a genuine smile, not a crush-induced grin.

Perhaps one of the first genuine smiles Pepper had caused in quite a while.

Life was different from the books, sure…

…but maybe sometimes it was better that way.

Sunil turned his head, looking for a familiar green-skinned friend. Someone who always made him laugh and smile – genuinely. Someone who always stuck by him in times of need. Someone that understood him – most of the time, at least. And there he was, watching the TV.

"Vinnie!" he called, running to his side.

The gecko turned. "Oh, hey, Sunil! Wanna watch TV with me?" His tongue lolled out of his mouth, as did a long strand of drool. "The insect channel is on."

"Actually…" Sunil smiled. "Do you wanna go to the park?"

And sometimes you had to move on.

_Author's Notes:_

_I am _so sorry_ for seemingly abandoning all of my fanfictions. I promise all of them will be updated at months and I just haven't had time to work on much of my on-going stuff. But I had time to write this._

_I'm not going to lie, I've been kind of disappointed by the reactions of the Sepper (which I _still_ like to call Peppunil) fans when Captain Cuddles entered the scene. I didn't care for him much as a character, but even though he was messing with my OTP, I didn't hate him, or their ship. I know a lot of other people were annoyed by this too, so I decided to write this fic. _

_I still love Peppunil, but I felt that it was necessary to write this, to get a more realistic grasp on things. And man, was it fun to write! I hope to update MLPS:EfE incredibly soon, as it's passed its one-year anniversary~_

_Glad to see you guys again,_

_Driz_


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